I DIDN'T BUY IT

My minimalistic ways do not require a lot of "stuff".  I have some stuff though.  Just maybe not as much as you have.  Christmas is always a bit puzzling to me.  As a mostly non-stuff person, I can't for the life of me see the fuss of gifts or spending large sums of money.  I think a small well-thought book, someone's favorite fragrance, gift card to a store you know someone loves, a cd, concert tickets, a well-thought little something can say love just as good.  Hundreds of dollars per person is insane.  I am not trying nor can I out give God who gave us the biggest and best Christmas gift of all - Jesus!  A gift is about focusing on love not on the stuff.  A lot of things in my kitchen I did not buy.  I have a very nice Kitchen-Aid stand up mixer, my mom bought it for me.  She also bought me my magic bullet (I use it regularly), a small food processor, a waffle iron (only used it a handful of times), great Cutco knives (I love them) and more!  Many things in my kitchen were handed down from my grandmothers - a rolling pin, a cast iron dutch oven, big tupperware bowls, a small brown ceramic dish I use for cheese dip.  I have bought some big things - dishes, pots and pans, etc, but many things I didn't buy.  For instance, I love bowls.  It must be a sort of fetish.  I have lots of beautiful big bowls - clear glass ones, ceramic colored ones, old antique ones.  Many were gifts from my sisters.  The rest, I picked up when they caught my eye.  I also didn't buy my paper shredder.  It came from my mom.  I didn't buy my electric hedge trimmer - my parents.  I have a great big recipe box which was a gift from my parents after I tried to get my dad to make me one in his workshop.  My silverware was bought at an auction years ago.  Most of the cookie sheets I have, baring one or two, were gifts from my ex-husband's grandma at Christmas time through the years.  I have two beautiful red casserole dishes with lids.  Away one weekend with my parents we were shopping at an outlet mall.  I found these great red casserole dishes in one of the kitchen stores.  As I stood in line to buy them, my dad came up beside me and took them out of my hands.  He bought them:)  Sitting here thinking about all the "things" of practicality, ease or just beauty that were bought by others but take up residence in my house makes me feel loved.  There was a reason that those people gave me those certain things.  Tomorrow when I fill my cast iron dutch oven with chicken to bake it I will think of my grandma.  On Thanksgiving when I make pies with my other grandmother's rolling pin, I will smile and feel love.  It doesn't take much to make me smile; a butterfly necklace from a friend, a book wrapped in gift paper, my favorite fragrance, a beautiful bowl.  But mostly I love the gift of presence.  Love on a daily basis from my friends and family is the best gift I could ever get.  It is a comforting, beautiful, perfect gift.